


Unbreaking the Teacup

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Series: Short and Sweet (Fics of About 1000 Words or Less) [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Dream Logic, Gen, I had feelings, Nightmares, Spoilers for Campaign 2 Episode 18, YOU HAVE TO HAVE FEELINGS TOO, You Know The Drill Folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 05:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14610114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: Caleb falls asleep at The Pillow Trove, books spread across the bed, notes scattered, pen still in his hand. His mind burns with ideas. His dreams burn as well.





	Unbreaking the Teacup

**Author's Note:**

> _“Occasionally I drop a teacup to shatter on the floor, on purpose. I’m not satisfied when it doesn’t gather itself up again. Some day, perhaps, a cup will come together.” —Hannibal, Season 2 episode 11,_ Kō No Mono

Caleb falls asleep at The Pillow Trove, books spread across the bed, notes scattered, pen still in his hand. His mind burns with ideas. His dreams burn as well.

Caleb remembers the night perfectly. He can’t help to remember, his memory a blessing and a curse, but it’s what he deserves. He deserves never to forget what he did. His dreams, though, his dreams are not perfect. He’s alone, and he wasn’t alone that night. He’s alone and the house is dark. The night is quiet. On that night his heart had been filled with hatred, with disgust for his parents. They were traitors. He had heard them talking, they had broken his heart. In his dreams, all his heart is filled with is sorrow and regret, and the only hate he feels is directed entirely at himself. It doesn’t matter that the memories of his parents treasonous talk were false memories planted in his head. When he had thought it was true, he had wanted them to burn.

As if in response to that thought, the house is suddenly ablaze. Caleb stares down at his smoldering hands, and that’s when the screams start. The screams are louder than the fire. His parents did not call out for him that night, they didn’t even know he was there, and Caleb is glad of that, that in their last moments they did not know what their son had done. In his dreams though, in his dreams they call out for him. In his dreams they plead with him to save them. In his dreams all he can do is watch, and listen. The house collapses. His parents are still screaming. Caleb wonders if his parents forgave them, after their death. He doesn’t know if it matters. He cannot forgive himself. Not yet.

Something walks out of the burning wreckage, a figure made of flames and smoke, its eyes burning the same blue as Caleb’s eyes. Caleb watches the figure come toward him and does not move, even as the heat makes his skin feel tight and the smoke makes his throat sting and his eyes water.

“I can fix this.” Caleb says to the burning man. “I’m going to fix this. I will undo this. I will make it right.” All he needs to do his find the right book, the right words. All he needs to do is bend reality, shape it, twist it so this never happened. All he has to do is unmake one event, one choice. He will break himself, if he has to, to remake the world into one that has his parents still in it.

In front of him, the house rebuilds itself. The flames die down. His parents stop screaming. The night is quiet.

Caleb embraces himself. He burns.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, who needs a hug and some ice cream and to pet some animals after that reveal? *sobs quietly*
> 
> I'm angel-ascending over on Tumblr if you want to stop by and say hi!


End file.
